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How serious is my hepatitis?

I am a 27 year old female, and I have Hepatitis C, type 1A. It's chronic, and I am at grade 2, stage 2. I'm pretty sure I got it from a tattoo when I was 18. I have scattered portal and parenchymal granulomas. sections reveal chronic inflammation in some of the portal areas, with a focal suggestion of piecemeal necrosis. There is portal fibrosis and focal slight bridging revealed by trichrome and reticulin stains. I'm currently on treatment, but I just started so I don't know if it is helping yet. I just wanted to know how close I am to cirrosis (cirrhosis)? If this treatment doesn't put it in remmision does it still help my liver at all?

Anything that can kill you or seriously damage your liver I would consider a serious problem. Is it something that's going to kill you overnight? No but you should consider treatment now as opposed to later. The longer you wait the more damage to the liver which will hurt you in the long run. There are some good clinical trials out there that can give you a much better chance at clearing the virus. You seem like a good candidate due to your age. Good luck to you!

Welcome to the forum! Please stick around and read a lot. You will find very much good information and an abundance of supportive, helpful and knowledgeable people.

You are far from cirrhosis, so don't worry about that.

Since you have started treatment, be sure to get a viral load test at week 4, meaning the day before or even better on the day of shot 5, but BEFORE doing the shot. The test at week 4 is the one which can best predict the outcome of treatment.

Could you please let us know on what dose of medication you are on, as that is very important for the best outcome of treatment. Are you on weight based Ribavirin and how much Peginterferon are you on.

The treatment, even if you don't attain SVR (cure), is beneficial in healing the liver.

While treating, in most cases, the liver does not begin the healing processes. During treatment, the damage (fibrosis) is usually not progressing. However, if you reach SVR
(cured) and only if you reach SVR, there is a good chance the liver will start to regenerate itself after you have stopped taking the treatment drugs and over a period of time. Renewed liver health is not an overnight process nor does your liver regenerate while on treatment.
Trinity

Do a search for SnookMan, or snookmiester...When I cam on this board I was 26 maybe, stage 3 bridging fibrosis, type 1a. I'm now 31yrs old, and HCV clear, with no remarkable fibrosis at all. In fact, I underwent a Fibroscan with Dr Schiff, and he stated the treatment reversed most if not all of my damage.
I know the treatment *****, and there will be MANY days you think you can't keep going.......but you will, and you can. It works, and for some like me the sx will and can be minimal. It's all a mind game, and if you play the game right, you'll come out victorious!!!

It's what my hepatologist in Atlanta told me. Inflammation usually ceases, but the drugs are very hard on the liver as well and you need to be off of them to see marked improvement in liver stage. Do you have a reference that clearly states the liver does regenerate a stage or two while on the tx drugs?

No, I don't unfortunately, it would be great news. Haven't seen any research on the subject but would be interested in reading if it exists. You stated it with such authority that I thought you might know of one or more studies.

you are in the right place . Read the archives and you will find a lot of answers. People used to be confused if you could regerate the liver back to its healthy state but there are many out there. That have tx and SVR . Once you have done that if you take care of yourself there is no reason not to believe your liver will heal its self. Best of luck to you!

Your liver can regenerate, and anyone that believes otherwise needs to do some reading. Better yet, take a trip down to Miami and schedule an appointment with Dr Schiff. If you haven't heard of him, do a search.....he leads the pack. There is also a lot of info on the net stating how peg intron actually uses the scar tissue in the liver as a catalyst. Every person reacts different, but fibrosis reversal is quite common. There has been plenty of members of this same forum that have seen dramatic fibrosis reversal, even some that did not obtain SVR. Search the archives........lots of good info, my old screen name was SnookMan.

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